christopher price

Shuffling secondary: Patriots seek continuity along back end

FOXBORO -- With injuries to cornerback Ras-I Dowling (who landed on season-ending injured reserve) as well as safeties Pat Chung (who has missed the last two-plus weeks with a shoulder injury) and Steve Gregory (who hasn't played since Week 4 because of a hip problem), the Patriots have done a lot of shuffling in the secondary as of late.

Over the last three games, New England has utilized two different starting lineups in the secondary and several different defensive backs at several different positions. That lack of continuity -- which includes fewer practice and game reps together -- can cause breakdowns in the backfield. It's something that's been evident time and again over the first eight games of the season, as the Patriots have yielded a league-high 42 pass plays of 20 yards or more.

The lack of continuity, combined with a sizable amount of youth (rookie corner Alfonzo Dennard and rookie safety Tavon Wilson have each started the last two games, and rookie safety Nate Ebner has seen an uptick in playing time lately), has created some issues in the secondary for New England.

"The issue with their secondary is they've had so many people beat up, they've struggled to have continuity," said Buffalo coach Chan Gailey, which saw his team hit for seven pass plays of 20 or more yards the first time the Bills met the Patriots in September.

"You have [Devin] McCourty playing corner, you have him playing safety. You have different people in there playing different spots from time to time. The thing they've been able to do is win and gain a ton of experience with a lot of different people. It'll improve their secondary overall as time goes on.

"But the movement of people has created the problem for them as far as [making] sure everybody is on the same page and covering every pass the way I know they would like to," added Gailey, "and the way they've done it in the past."

No one is suggesting that New England's troubles will be washed away completely if/when it's able to run the same four defensive backs out there on a consistent basis, but that sort of consistency will certainly help. Getting regular reps alongside familiar faces is "huge," according to McCourty.

"I think for us, when we're watching film together and we're doing things like that, we can use those as mental reps," he said Wednesday, "because it's going to be impossible to get a bunch of reps together when we have guys who are out. I think we've tried to focus on using that time to benefit us as well.

McCourty has bounced around an awful lot in the secondary for various reasons over the last year-plus. He started the season at corner and then, after Chung went down late last month, moved to safety. It's a position he has some familiarity with -- he was there late in the year last year and into the playoffs for large chunks of time. Patriots coach Bill Belichick likes him working on the back line, but as is the case with the rest of the defensive backs, knows that consistency can create success.

"I think [McCourty] can handle the movement, but I think the more consistent we can be as a unit, then that builds their communication and better teamwork between the players that are involved," Belichick said. "There are always going to be some moving parts -- there are moving parts every week, because of the team that we play. And unfortunately we've had -- like every team does -- guys go in and out for various reasons. So it's not perfect."

According to Gailey, the uncertainty can sometimes work in New England's favor.

"You don't know who you're going to get where," Gailey said when it comes to preparing for the Patriots' pass defense. "You don't know how to read one guy. If you watch four or five games on a guy, you can sometimes get a read on him. But when you don't have that, it's very difficult to do."

One guy who has managed to keep opposing offensive coordinators guessing is McCourty. His versatility has allowed him to help out the corners, and in turn, the safeties have guided his work along the back end as well.

"I have a good knowledge of -- especially for our corners -- what they're doing," McCourty said. "A little bit of that helps, where I can say things and communicate with them to let them know I'm on the same page with them. I think that helps them out a lot.

"Just my experience at corner helps me out with that aspect, and then, just going out there and playing and listening to the guys to have been playing safety when they're trying to help me out. I think a lot of it is just us working together to try and improve."

"Devin works hard," Belichick said. "I think he has a good understanding of what that particular defensive play is, what that entails. I'd say he's not a guy that has a lot of excess communication. He's concise, he's to the point: ‘Here's the call, here's what it is,' instead of some guys, ‘Watch out for this, watch out for that, this could happen, be ready for that.' That's good but Devin is more, ‘Here's what we need to do. Here's the alert on this. Here's the check. This is our adjustment on that,' and just get to the point and do it. It's a different kind of communication maybe than some other guys but I think it's good. He does a good job back there."

For McCourty, the biggest difference in the move to safety is the change in the overall field of vision.

"It's cool -- it's different. You get used to seeing more of the field," he said. "I think you get used to having more responsibility since you have that viewpoint to let everyone else know, because I know when you're playing corner, it's not as easy to see the different things you see on film when you're on just one side of the field. So I try to communicate and let guys know if I see anything from film study that might happen, just send that alert out."

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